Scrubs
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Scrubs |
| Abbreviation(s): | n/a |
| Creator: | Bill Lawrence |
| Date(s): | October 2, 2001 - 2010 |
| Medium: | Television |
| Country of Origin: | United States |
| External Links: | imdb.com |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Scrubs is a half-hour, single-camera, comedy/drama television series. It's set in Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital in an ambiguous location that's more or less Southern California. The cast includes older, experienced characters like Doctors Bob Kelso and Perry Cox, and nurse Carla Espinosa. These characters often act as mentors or foils for the newer doctors like Elliot Reid, Chris Turk, and the bumbling and effeminate John Dorian, aka J.D. The show has a large supporting cast of regulars such as Jordan Sullivan, Cox's ex-wife; The Todd, a surgical jock and inveterate failed womanizer; Ted Buckland, the hospital's constantly sweating attorney; Nurse Laverne Roberts/Nurse Shirley; and a man known only as the Janitor.
Each episode generally begins and ends with a wistful voiceover by J.D., who has a fanciful imagination, often daydreams fantasy sequences with improbable events, and has a near-constant internal monologue, also expressed through voiceovers.
Season 9 featured a mostly new cast going through medical school. Dr. Cox and Turk remained as part of the regular cast while the other characters guest starred.
Fandom
Scrubs is a quiet fandom, mostly operating out of FanFiction.Net, LiveJournal, and small-fandom fests like Yuletide. It has no central archive for fanworks, but LiveJournal has a number of communities dedicated to fic, icons, episode discussion, and screen captures. Scrubsfic accepts all fic, while others specialize in pairings such as jordan_perry and jd_cox, or are limited to slash only, like scrubs_slash.
Fanfic
Popular pairings include het and slash, with a heavy emphasis onJ.D./Cox, as well as a marked fondness for canon relationships such as Cox/Jordan and J.D./Elliot. There is also a lot of gen fic, as Scrubs is an ensemble show that easily lends itself to fanfic without a central romance. Many fans expect, due to the 'bromance' between JD and Turk which even includes a canon kiss in one episode, for J.D./Turk to be a popular pairing, but in actual fact J.D./Turk is far less popular than J.D./Cox. J.D. and Dr. Cox are by far the most popular characters to write about, and nearly all fanfiction revolves around at least one of these characters.
J.D. angst is another popular trope in Scrubs fandom, and is often referred to as 'JDA', especially on fanfiction.net, and there are many stories in which JD goes through physical or emotional trauma. This is used mainly as a device to bring him closer to Dr. Cox, either in friendship or in a relationship. The initialism 'DCA' is occasionally occasionally used, referring to Dr. Cox angst. There are also a small number of gen fics which focus on the father/son dynamic between J.D. and Dr. Cox.
One thing that really stands out about Scrubs fandom is the preponderance of fic written in the first person. J.D. is the narrator of the show, so the majority of fic written from his perspective is in first person. This makes Scrubs somewhat different from other television and movie fandoms, where first person fics are significantly less popular.
Along the same lines, a large proportion of Scrubs fic is titled like the show: My X Y, making for entertaining alphabetised rec-lists where everything is filed under M.
Notable Fanworks
- My Big Breakup, by Sabine [1]
Resources
LiveJournal Communities
Archives
Mailing Lists
- scrubslash archive link "Come one, come all! [ahem] Here be the brand new mailing list for your brand new favorite show, Scrubs. Where all you need to join the party is a pair of scrubs and a healthy dose of slashy love. Did you turn all gooey when J.D. confessed to Turk he missed him so much it hurt sometimes? Do you think a little unresolved sexual tension may be the root of Carla and Elliot's bickering? Have a different take on J.D.'s hero-worship of Dr. Cox? Well, why the [censor] haven't you joined this group yet?! But seriously, folks, anyone who joins this list must be aware that all fiction here will feature homosexual relationships (male/male and female/female are both accepted and encouraged), whether it features humor, romance, angst, smut, hurt/comfort, etc. By joining, you are automatically agreeing that you are a mature adult (usually 18 or 21, depending on your area of residence), who is simply here to enjoy the material. ...Even if that material involves previously unexplored uses for the stethoscope."
- Scrubs Fic offline "The ORIGINAL scrubs fic list, started by a slasher but all inclusive for those of us who may prefer het or gen, it's all about acceptance!"
- Scrubs Slash archive link "This is a list dedicated to slashing the NBC comedy show "Scrubs". Great characters and great potential!"
References
- ^ My Big Breakup iamsab
- ^ Things You Have To Get Used To When John Dorian Is Your Boyfriend puritybrown